Incorrect ATP stats (a survey)

Many posters here have mentioned that the ATP site has a lot of mistakes when it comes to things like titles won, or scorelines. I'm starting this thread as a resource for ATP errors on match statistics.

I'll start with a list of published boxscores that all differ with the ATP stats.

Last week I ran a search in Lexis-Nexis for boxscores from 1991-2000. I just searched for the term "Total Points Won."

I found 7 boxscores. Six had serious discrepancies with the ATP stats on service/return percentages and Total Points Won/Played.

I sent an email to the ATP with a list. I can't say that the boxscores are definitely correct, but I do know that the boxscore I had found for the 1992 W final had accurate figures while the ATP did not.

I also know that the ATP stats for the 1995 AO final are wrong because they clash with my own counts and ESPN's.

On the other hand, while the ATP only agrees with 1 of 7 boxscores I found in that particular search, from time to time I have seen other boxscores that agree with the ATP.

Sometimes I've also seen, not entire boxscores, but individual stats that agreed with the ATP (for example, just the first-serve percentages). Occasionally these stats come from television coverage.

Also, when we've done our own counts, I can't recall a time when our numbers differed from the ATP stats by a lot. In fact we've done a few matches where our own counts for the total number of points agree with the ATP. We've also come up with slight discrepancies, but with the boxscores we're talking about large differences on things like total points played in the match.

Later I’ll make some posts on ATP stats that are look okay.

For now let me just list all the boxscores I know about that clash with the ATP stats on service/return percentages and Total Points Won/Played.

A list of the matches:

Agassi-Ivanisevic, 1992 Wimbledon final
Bruguera-Courier, 1993 French Open final
Courier-Edberg, 1993 Wimbledon semifinal
Sampras-Agassi, 1995 U.S. Open final
Krajicek-Washington, 1996 Wimbledon final
Sampras-Moya, 1997 Australian Open final
Korda-Sampras, 1997 U.S. Open
Korda-Rios, 1998 Australian Open final
Rafter-Philippoussis, 1998 U.S. Open final

And here are the actual boxscores. I've been able just to cut and paste them in here; the boxes are gone but the numbers look readable.

In every one of these cases, the ATP's aces, doubles, break points and number of service games look okay, or at least they resemble the boxscore figures. The remaining ATP stats are sometimes off by so much that they don't appear to belong to the match in question.

Some other discrepancies I've seen:

- For Agassi-Sampras, 1995 Australian Open, my own counts contradict the ATP stats on points won/played on service and overall.

- For Sampras-Hrbaty, 1997 Australian Open, 4th round (6-7 (7-4) 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-4), The Australian reported that Sampras led Hrbaty in total points by 157-154 (the ATP has 189-184); that Hrbaty led in aces by 20-17 (the ATP has 21-17); and that Hrbaty converted 3 of 10 break points (in agreement with the ATP).

Here are a few more matches in which the ATP stats are different from stats in the print media or TV coverage:

- For Sampras-Ivanisevic, 1998 W final, NBC had counted 306 points as of 1-all, 30-15 in the fifth. I counted 27 more points, for a total of only 333 points in the match, compared to 404 reported at the ATP.

- For Sampras-Ivanisevic, 1995 W SF, the AP and Irish Times report that Sampras led in total points won by 146-145; the ATP has him trailing 175-185.

- For Becker-Agassi, 1995 W SF, the Washington Times had Agassi winning 21 of 53 second serves, while the ATP has 21 of 59.

- For Sampras-Becker, 1995 W final, the ATP stats differ from the Washington Post on the number of points that Becker won in return games (31 instead of the Post's 20), his aces (17 instead of 16) and his double-faults (16 instead of 15). And the ATP’s Total Points Won (309) would yield 7.9 points per game, higher than any confirmed average I know.

- For Sampras-Corretja, 1996 USO QF, the ATP has a total of 431 points played, while other sources have 375 (Washington Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Orange County Register).

- For Sampras-Agassi, 1993 W QF, the ATP has 318 points played, but HBO's count with eight games left has only 224. I counted 48 points remaining, for a total of only 272. And the ATP lists the match as 8 minutes long.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong with the ATP stats until the discussion in the other thread prompted me to take another look today. I started adding up how many extra points Sampras was being given by the ATP, and that was the key.

It turns out that the ATP, in a lot of its matches, counted aces and double-faults twice in their figures for Total Points Won. The aces and df's themselves are listed correctly -- but they were included twice in the other rows (e.g., service percentages, success on first and second serve, Total Points Won, etc.)

Counting them only once resolves all the major discrepancies that I've listed in the posts above.

These are the ATP stats for the 1995 AO final:

They've got Agassi winning 151 points overall, and Sampras 154, even though Agassi won more games (and won the match).

Sampras was given 154 points because his aces, and Andre's double-faults, were counted twice.

28 aces + 4 df = 32 extra points

154 - 32 = 122 points won (in line with my own count)

And Agassi got his aces, and Pete's doubles, twice:

10 aces + 6 df = 16 extra points

151 - 16 = 135 points won (in line with my own count)

And this explains why Agassi, per the ATP, won fewer points than Ivanisevic despite beating him in the '92 W final: because he had only 9 aces while Goran had 37.

In fact all the boxscores I posted in the original post now line up with the ATP stats, when the aces and doubles are subtracted from the Total Points Won:

Agassi-Ivanisevic, 1992 Wimbledon final
Bruguera-Courier, 1993 French Open final
Courier-Edberg, 1993 Wimbledon semifinal
Sampras-Agassi, 1995 U.S. Open final
Krajicek-Washington, 1996 Wimbledon final
Sampras-Moya, 1997 Australian Open final
Korda-Sampras, 1997 U.S. Open
Korda-Rios, 1998 Australian Open final
Rafter-Philippoussis, 1998 U.S. Open final

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Almost all of them line up exactly with the ATP. With the '92 W final, subtracting the aces and df's actually leaves Goran with 157 points rather than the 159 that he has in my count and in the newspaper boxscore. It leaves Bruguera-Courier with a point margin of 152-145 instead of the 153-146 in the print media (partly because the ATP has blank boxes where the double-faults should go). And Sampras-Agassi at '95 USO is left with a point margin of 123-111 rather than what's in the boxscore and my count (124-112).

So the ATP's counting is not perfect; but otherwise it lines up exactly with published figures, once the aces and df's are subtracted.

The problem is that there's no way of knowing which matches in the ATP database have mistakes, other than to check against another source. A lot of ATP stats, esp. in the '90s, are incorrect. But even in that decade there are at least a few matches where the ATP does agree with published boxscores, or with other stats (including our own counts).

The only way to confirm an ATP boxscore is to check it against stats in a newspaper, tournament website, TV network, or your own count.

- For Sampras-Hrbaty, 1997 Australian Open, 4th round (6-7 (7-4) 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-4), The Australian reported that Sampras led Hrbaty in total points by 157-154 (the ATP has 189-184);

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The total points won line up exactly if aces and df's are subtracted once.

- For Sampras-Ivanisevic, 1998 W final, NBC had counted 306 points as of 1-all, 30-15 in the fifth. I counted 27 more points, for a total of only 333 points in the match, compared to 404 reported at the ATP.

For Sampras-Ivanisevic, 1995 W SF, the AP and Irish Times report that Sampras led in total points won by 146-145; the ATP has him trailing 175-185.

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Same agreement here.

- For Becker-Agassi, 1995 W SF, the Washington Times had Agassi winning 21 of 53 second serves, while the ATP has 21 of 59. Also, NBC had Becker serving at only 55% as of 3-all in the fourth, six percentage points lower than the ATP’s figure for the whole match.

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Since most aces are first serves, it makes sense that Becker's first-serve percentage would be inflated at the ATP, since those first serves are being counted twice.

- For Sampras-Becker, 1995 W final, the ATP stats differ from the Washington Post on the number of points that Becker won in return games (31 instead of the Post's20), his aces (17 instead of 16) and his double-faults (16 instead of 15). And the ATP’s Total Points Won (309) would yield 7.9 points per game, higher than any confirmed average I know.

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I've actually found stats for Becker's return games in this final that differ from one newspaper to another; a lot of disagreements. I don't know the correct figure but it does look like the ATP's figures for Total Points Won are inflated a lot, with these two men serving so many aces (and Becker serving so many double faults). If the aces and doubles are subtracted, it would leave Sampras winning 138 points overall, Becker 108. That's a total of 246, for a more believable average of 6.3 points per game.

- For Sampras-Corretja, 1996 USO QF, the ATP has a total of 431 points played, while other sources have 375 (Washington Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Orange County Register).

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The ATP has 375 too, once aces and df's are subtracted. And the points break down as they do in the print media: 188 for Alex and 187 for Pete.

- For Sampras-Agassi, 1993 W QF, the ATP has 318 points played, but HBO's count with eight games left has only 224. I counted 48 points remaining, for a total of only 272.

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I did this match recently and my total was actually 275, with Sampras leading 146-129 (as he does in the ATP stats if aces and df's are subtracted).

Incidentally I have Agassi facing 15 break points, while the ATP has only 13.

So the bias in the ATP stats, when they're wrong, is toward big servers like Sampras, Becker, Ivanisevic.

Not just their total points won, but their service percentages and success on first and second serve, are going to appear higher than they actually were.

I think I've read on this board a few debates about whether Agassi or Hewitt had the better return game. That's a good question, but if you use their stats against Sampras, it's more likely that Agassi's return stats are going to appear lower than they really were. Hewitt's stats are probably more accurate because I don't think I've found any ATP stats that are incorrect since around the year 2000. I do sometimes see the ATP differ with other sources by tiny amounts, but that's all. It's in the '90s that, so far, I've found all the big mistakes.

- For Edberg-Chang, 1992 USO SF, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has Edberg leading 209-175 in overall points, for a total of 384. The Washington Post and SI have 404. The ATP has 436, but that drops down to 404 if the aces and doubles are subtracted once (with Edberg leading 209-195). So I'm inclined to think that 404 is the correct number; only the Star-Tribune disagrees. I'm not surprised that anyone made a mistake given the record length of the match (5:26 at the ATP and in the press reports). The Post, SI, and the ATP agree that there were 23 service breaks. The LA Times has Chang converting 11 of 34 break points (same as the ATP) and facing 20 himself; the ATP has him facing 21.

- For Becker-Pioline, 1995 W QF, Becker was broken early in the fifth set according to several sources but the ATP has him unbroken. Each man served 28 times but the ATP has each serving 20. So those stats are incomplete in a way I haven't seen anywhere else; and I don't know if anything is going on with the aces and doubles.

- For Sampras-Agassi, 1999 W final, I have Sampras leading 106-85 in overall points, and so does the ATP if aces and doubles faults are subtracted once.

- For Agassi-Sampras, 1992 RG QF, I have Agassi leading 102-77. The ATP's numbers drop down to 103-78 if aces and df's are subtracted. And I counted 8 aces by Sampras; the ATP has 6.

Finally, I did my own stats for Sampras-Agassi, 1995 USO, and they agree with the boxscore posted in the OP. The ATP has the total points wrong as well as the break points: they have Sampras converting 4 of 7 but he was at 4 of 8 in my count and in the boxscore.

So the bias in the ATP stats, when they're wrong, is toward big servers like Sampras, Becker, Ivanisevic.

Not just their total points won, but their service percentages and success on first and second serve, are going to appear higher than they actually were.

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Actually success on second serve is going to skew low in the ATP stats, if double-faults are being counted twice. And that would often affect the big servers, or anyone who had a bad day double-faulting.

Doing a quick review of the boxscores above from the print media, they do give players greater success on second serve than the ATP does, but less success on first serve.

I've put together a list of matches in which the ATP figures for Total Points Won are supported by at least one source.

By support I don't always mean exact alignment. For some of these matches there are still minor discrepancies between the ATP and other sources, and I've described those below as well as I can pick them out.

But in all these cases it appears, at least, that the ATP has not counted aces and double-faults twice.

The list runs through 2003.

- For Courier-Agassi, 1991 RG final, the Associated Press reports that Courier won 145 points, the same number as the ATP.

Safin-Sampras, 2000 U.S. Open final
Xinhua General News Service:
Following are key statistics from Sunday's men's final at the U.S. Open in which sixth-seeded Russian Marat Safin beat fourth-seeded American Pete Sampras 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
SAMPRAS SAFIN
Age 29 20
Seeding 4 6
First serve points won 38 of 50 34 of 40
Second serve points won 12 of 29 26 of 42
Aces 8 12
Double faults 4 2
Winners (including service) 32 37
Unforced Errors 25 12
Break point conversions 0-of-2 4-of-9
Net approaches won 43-of-82 5-of-12
Total points won 72 89
Time of match: 1:38
This lines up with the ATP in all categories.

Finally there’s this unique case. Here’s a match in which the aces and doubles were not counted twice, and there’s only a minor discrepancy in Total Points Won between the ATP and another source, but there are nevertheless significant discrepancies (first-serve percentage, success on first and second serve).

The ATP has Courier serving 10 percentage points higher than this, and Edberg is up by 4 points. In success on first serve, Courier is down 4 points, Edberg down 2. Less significantly, they have Edberg at 2 aces and Courier winning 59 points.

The St. Petersburg Times and the Associated Press agree with USA Today that Edberg's success on first serve was 84%.

So this match (see also Becker-Pioline above) suggests that there may be significant mistakes in the ATP database that have nothing to do with counting aces and df's twice.

That's 71 service games altogether, plus one tiebreak. But the ATP -- despite having the correct score -- reports only 64 service games.

And they have the break points wrong, too. They've got Ivanisevic 3/3 on breakers, Krajicek 2/4. But the New York Times has Goran at 5 of 6: he broke three times in the first four sets (serving for the match in the fourth), and twice more in the fifth.

In fact the ATP's break points look like they might be confined to the first four sets.

Tennis Magazine (“Where Are the Big Guns?” by Jon Levey, August 2008 ):

The sonic-serving boom reached its peak several years later, in the 1998 Wimbledon semifinals. Two disciples of the big serve, Goran Ivanisevic and Richard Krajicek, squared off for five sets. While Edberg and Becker had nuances to their games, Ivanisevic and Krajicek, who were taller, relied on mammoth serves and backed them up with adequate volleys when necessary. Of the 290 points played, almost a third (91) ended with an ace or a double fault. Despite going to a 15-13 fifth set, the match took just 3 hours and 22 minutes. It was evenly contested and utterly monotonous.

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Those stats may be taken from the ATP boxscore, which also has 290 total points. The 91 points from aces and double-faults may be fine (the aces are confirmed in the Times), but I doubt that only 290 points were played over the full 72 games. It would mean an average of 4.03 points per game, almost numerically impossible.

The line for the Winners appeared with percentage signs, but the numbers look okay. Per the Cincinatti Post, “Sampras fired 58 winners, including 24 aces.” Per The Nation, Korda "crushed an astounding 67 winners and drew 66 unforced errors from Sampras."

Here are a few more matches for which the ATP stats -- though they might contain minor errors -- at least appear not to have counted aces and df's twice.

For Becker-Sampras, 1996 ATP Championships, round-robin, the ATP has each man winning 94 points, in line with my own count.

For Becker-Sampras, 1996 Eurocard final, the ATP has Becker leading in total points by 139-137. I have the same numbers if I presume that Sampras held at love in the one game missing on my DVD.

For Sampras-Agassi, 1999 ATP Championships final, ESPN has Sampras winning 37 of 43 points on first serve late in the match. By my count, he went 7 for 7 on his remaining good first serves. So for the entire match he would have won 44 of 50, an exact match with the ATP.

In the 90s, it's still pretty frequent that I see aces and df's counted twice at the ATP, but some matches don't appear to have that problem. Interesting that the two Becker-Sampras matches are okay (since the stats for their 5-set ATP Championships final are also correct, going by the New York Times).

Krajicek won 87 percent of his first-serve points, broke the single-match record for aces (46 set by Goran Ivanisevic in a first-round Wimbledon loss in 1997), and hit an astounding 82 winners to Kafelnikov's 48. The Dutchman, seeded 12th, actually won two more points overall than Kafelnikov, but they weren't enough to advance.

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The ATP has Krajicek winning 87% of points on his first serve, and leading 169-167 in total points.

New York Daily News:

After being aced an unbelievable 48 times, Yevgeny Kafelnikov finished off Richard Krajicek with nothing else but an ace.

The Russian withstood a record-setting barrage of aces from the 12th seed before emerging with a 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5) quarterfinal victory that lasted three hours and 20 minutes on Louis Armstrong Stadium court last night.

Krajicek set a men's record for most aces in a best-of-five Grand Slam match, topping Goran Ivanisevic's 46 aces in a 1997 match at Wimbledon.

Ironically, Kafelnikov, seeded third and winner of this year's Australian Open, aced Krajicek for the 10th time to move into his second Grand Slam semifinal of the year. He needed four match points in the tiebreaker.

"I was pretty nervous," Kafelnikov said. "I was so nervous, I didn't know how I made that ace."

Kafelnikov said earlier in the tournament that either he, Krajicek or Andre Agassi was going to win it all. Yesterday, Krajicek and Kafelnikov played the first two sets almost evenly, despite Krajicek's 25 aces.

In the third and fourth sets, Krajicek broke Kafelnikov twice in each set. Meanwhile, Kafelnikov couldn't touch the Dutchman's first serves as Krajicek converted a scorching 82% of them in the fourth.

Kafelnikov, though, was able to beat Krajicek by taking advantage of his less-blistering second serve. The Russian won 48 of 75 points off that serve.

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The ATP has Krajicek at 49 aces, but no problem otherwise; they've got Kafelnikov hitting 10 aces and winning 48 of 74 points on Krajicek's second serve.

The most recent match in which I know aces and df's were counted twice is still the 1999 W final.

The match was as tight as could be, except for the tiebreakers, where Sampras won 14 of the 18 points contested.

Otherwise, Agassi won 74 points to 68 for Sampras.

"Two tiebreakers," Sampras said when asked the difference in the one-hour, 35-minute match. "Andre is so tough for me to play. He returns so well."

But not in the tiebreakers, where Sampras' service was invincible. He served five winners in the first-set tiebreaker, with one ace and three serves.

Meanwhile, Agassi was 3-2 on his serve.

Agassi opened the second-set tiebreaker with a double-fault -- his only one of the match. Sampras followed with an ace, and it was all downhill from there. Agassi won a point on his serve to make it 3-1 before Sampras won four straight points to close out the match.

Sampras was 4-0 while serving in the second-set tiebreaker with his 11th and final ace along with unreturnable serves.

Agassi had 10 aces in the match, and won 52 of 70 service points. But it wasn't enough. Sampras won 64 of 90 service points.

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The points won on serve are the same numbers the ATP has. However the ATP has Sampras leading in overall points by 82-78. And mathematically those must be the correct numbers if Sampras went 64/90 on serve and Agassi 52/70.

- For Ivanisevic-Edberg, 1992 Wimbledon quarterfinal, Moose Malloy counted 316 points in the match; the ATP has 315 if aces and df’s are subtracted once from their figures for Total Points Won.

- For Agassi-Rafter, 1995 AO, R16, I have Agassi leading in total points by 82-53, and so does the ATP if aces and df’s are subtracted once.

- For Philippoussis-Sampras, 1996 Australian Open, R32, I have Philippoussis leading in total points by 119-109, and so does the ATP if they don’t count their aces and df’s twice.

- For Kafelnikov-Sampras, 1996 Roland Garros SF, I have Kafelnikov leading in total points by 105-71, and so does the ATP if they don’t count their aces and df’s twice – but note that they have two fewer Kafelnikov aces and two fewer Sampras double-faults than I do.

- For Washington-Radulescu, 1996 Wimbledon quarterfinal, the Boston Globe has Washington leading in total points by 185-182, and so does the ATP if aces and df’s are subtracted once.

- For Rafter-Rusedski, 1997 USO final, a boxscore in the Hartford Courant has Rafter leading in total points by 127-106; the ATP has the same if their aces and df’s are subtracted once.

- For Philippoussis-Moya, 1998 U.S. Open semifinal, the New York Times has Philippoussis winning 63 of 74 points on first serve. The ATP has 83 of 94, which looks as if they counted nearly all of Mark’s aces twice (the Times and the ATP agree that he had 21 aces).

- For Rafter-Sampras, 1998 USO semifinal, I have Rafter leading in overall points by 152-138. The ATP has Rafter leading by 153-135, if the aces and df’s are subtracted once.

And here's an example of how widespread the problem of counting aces and df's twice might be in matches from the 1990s.

- At the 1994 AO, ESPN had Todd Martin winning 172 of 451 points on his opponents’ first serves through the semifinals. The ATP has him winning 172 of 489, which works out exactly if they counted his opponents' 38 aces twice.

- For Edberg-Chang, 1992 USO SF, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has Edberg leading 209-175 in overall points, for a total of 384. The Washington Post and SI have 404. The ATP has 436, but that drops down to 404 if the aces and doubles are subtracted once (with Edberg leading 209-195). So I'm inclined to think that 404 is the correct number; only the Star-Tribune disagrees.

I'm not surprised that anyone made a mistake given the record length of the match (5:26 at the ATP and in the press reports). The Post, SI, and the ATP agree that there were 23 service breaks. The LA Times has Chang converting 11 of 34 break points (same as the ATP) and facing 20 himself; the ATP has him facing 21.

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ESPN showed some highlights so I got some of the CBS stats in the fifth set on break points and total points played.

CBS has got each player winning 178 points late in the match, so I counted forward and got 404 points in total, with Edberg leading 209-195.

- For Sampras-Edberg, 1994 Indian Wells semifinal, the ATP stats are confirmed by Moose Malloy’s own count of first-serve percentages, success on first and second serve, aces, double-faults and break points.

- For Muster-Becker, 1995 Monte Carlo final, Moose counted 313 points, just two more than the ATP has. And for each player he counted as many successful first serves as the ATP did.

In all of these matches the ATP has counted aces and double-faults twice.

- For Sampras-Stich, 1992 Wimbledon quarterfinal, ABMK has Sampras leading 83-62 in total points. The ATP would have 84-61 if they subtracted aces and df’s once.

- For Lendl-Connors, 1992 USO, R64, I have Lendl leading in total points by 111-80, which is what the ATP would have they subtracted aces and df’s once from their stats.

- For Edberg-Krajicek, 1992 USO, R16, the New York Times had Edberg leading 181-169 in total points. The ATP figures drop to 179-167 (from a tie of 193-193) if the ATP’s aces and double-faults are subtracted once. Note also that the Times had Edberg serving 13 double-faults (compared to the ATP’s 11) and Krajicek serving 13 aces (compared to the ATP’s 15).

- For Sampras-Becker, 1993 Wimbledon semifinal, the ATP has Sampras leading 130-113 in total points, which comes out to 107-93 if the aces and double-faults are subtracted once. SLICE SERVE ACE has Sampras leading 107-92.

- For Sampras-Courier, 1993 Wimbledon final, the ATP has Sampras leading 163-135 in total points, but if aces and double-faults are subtracted once the lead is 135-120, right in line with SLICE SERVE ACE's count.

- For Sampras-Pioline, 1993 U.S. Open final, a boxscore in the Baltimore Sun has Sampras leading in total points by 97-75, which is what the ATP would have if they subtracted aces and df’s once.

- For Yzaga-Sampras, 1994 U.S. Open, R16, a boxscore in the Orlando Sentinel has Yzaga leading 166-161 in total points, same as the ATP if the aces and df's are subtracted once.

- For Becker-Agassi, 1995 Wimbledon SF, I have Becker leading 151-47 in total points, same as the ATP if aces and df’s are subtracted once.

- For Sampras-Becker, 1995 W final, I have Sampras leading 138-108 in total points, same as the ATP if their aces and doubles are subtracted once. Also, the ATP gave Becker 16 df’s, one more than he had in my count and in the Washington Post’s.

- For Krajicek-Sampras, 1996 Wimbledon quarterfinal, Wimbledon.org has Krajicek leading 116-101 in total points. The ATP has 114-99 if aces and df’s are subtracted once. Also, the ATP reports that Krajicek faced 6 break points, but the New York Times reported 7 (confirmed in my own count).

- For Sampras-Chang, 1996 USO final, a boxscore in the Spartanburg Herald Journal has Sampras leading in total points by 94-76, which the ATP also has if aces and double-faults are subtracted once.

- For Sampras-Henman, 1998 Wimbledon semifinal, the ATP reports a total of 136 points served by Sampras, but SLICE SERVE ACE counted only 114. The ATP has the same number if Sampras’ 15 aces and 7 df’s are subtracted once.

- For Sampras-Ivanisevic, 1998 Wimbledon final, SLICE SERVE ACE reports 155 points served by Sampras, which is what the ATP would have if they subtracted Sampras’ 11 aces and 8 df’s once.

- For Sampras-Becker, 1997 Wimbledon quarterfinal, the ATP puts Sampras at 17 aces, 4 df’s and 4 break points faced. The Dallas Morning News and NBC put him at 19 aces, 3 df’s and 3 break points faced. Moreover, NBC reports 209 points played in the match; the Dallas Morning News has 211; the ATP has 240, which would come down to 211 if the aces and double-faults were subtracted once.

- For Kuerten-Norman, 2000 French Open final, the ATP has Kuerten facing 16 break points; NBC has 14, and the official RG site has only 13.

- For Federer-Roddick, 2007 Masters Cup, ESPN had Federer serving at 85%, while the ATP has 82%.

- For Federer-Nadal, 2007 Masters Cup semifinal, ESPN had Federer serving at 83% (40 successful first serves), while the ATP has 81% (39 first serves). ESPN had Nadal serving at 67%, while the ATP has 71%.

Since your OP, has the ATP corrected at least some of your earlier grievances?

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Believe me.. never gonna happen!!

They have Antwerp 1998 (Belgium mid ****in February) as Outdoor event.. i sent them many emalis to correct that and to make it Indoor Hard (with link to tournament's page on ITF) but then they must correct Indoor-Outdoor matches ratio for 32 players in the draw and they just don't want to do that. Its better to stay wrong than to work and on it and make it true

They have Antwerp 1998 (Belgium mid ****in February) as Outdoor event.. i sent them many emalis to correct that and to make it Indoor Hard (with link to tournament's page on ITF) but then they must correct Indoor-Outdoor matches ratio for 32 players in the draw and they just don't want to do that. Its better to stay wrong than to work and on it and make it true

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You may be right, but shouldn't something like this update automatically, if corrections are made?

- For Federer-Agassi, 2003 Masters Cup final, each player has been incorrectly given his opponent's break points. Federer dominated the match but the ATP boxscore has Agassi facing no break points, and they've got Andre breaking serve twice. The numbers have been reversed.

- For Becker-Chang, 1995 ATP Championships final, the ATP has Becker serving on 96 points. That must be correct, because subtracting his aces and double-faults once would leave him serving 66 points in the match and only 55 points in his 15 service games: an impossible average of 3.7 points per game.

Here are more matches for which the ATP has counted aces and double-faults twice.

- For Ivanisevic-Sampras, 1992 Wimbledon semifinal, the New York Times reported that Sampras never won more than two points in any of Ivanisevic’s 21 service games. So Ivanisevic cannot have served more than 138 points (counting 12 points he served in the tiebreaks) -- the ATP has him serving 159. If Ivanisevic’s aces and double-faults are subtracted once, then he served 118 points.

- For Sampras-Becker, 1992 ATP Championships, round-robin, Nadal_Power and Slice Serve Ace both have Sampras serving 70 points and Becker 75. The ATP would have those same numbers if it subtracted aces and double-faults once.

- For Becker-Ivanisevic, 1992 ATP Championships semifinal, Slice Serve Ace has Ivanisevic serving 101 points, exactly what the ATP would have if aces and double-faults were subtracted once.

- For Ivanisevic-Becker, 1994 Wimbledon semifinal, Slice Serve Ace has Ivanisevic serving 89 points, Becker 93. That’s exactly what the ATP would have if aces and double-faults are subtracted once from their stats.

- For Sampras-Philippoussis, 1995 USO, R32, Slice Serve has Philippoussis serving 147 points, which is what the ATP would have if it subtracted his aces and double-faults once.

- For Krajicek-Stich, 1996 Wimbledon R16, Moose has Krajicek leading in total points by 105-97. The ATP has 106-96 if aces and df’s are subtracted once.

- For Sampras-Philippoussis, 1996 USO, R16, Slice Serve has Philippoussis serving 82 points, which is what the ATP would have if it subtracted his aces and double-faults once.

- For Sampras-Ivanisevic, 1996 USO semifinal, Slice Serve Ace has Sampras serving 134 points, Ivanisevic 116. That’s exactly what the ATP has if the aces and double-faults are subtracted once from their numbers.

- For Sampras-Pioline, 1997 Wimbledon final, Slice Serve Ace has Sampras serving 76 points, Pioline 78 points. The ATP would have the same numbers if it subtracted aces and double-faults once.

- For Haas-Spadea, 1999 Australian Open quarterfinal, the ATP’s figures for success on first serve, for both players, are slightly higher than the figures from Australia’s Seven network, which suggests that the ATP counted aces (and double-faults) twice.

Here are more matches in which the ATP appears not to have counted entire games or sets.

- For Ivanisevic-Bailey, 1993 Wimbledon, R16, each man served 31 times; the score was 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 9-7. But the ATP had only 46 service games played, as if the 16 games of the fifth set were dropped entirely. All the other stats may be undercounted as well (they’ve got Goran serving 22 aces, 10 double-faults).

- For Henman-Courier, 1999 Wimbledon, R16, the scoreline of 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7, 9-7 shows 62 service games altogether, plus one tiebreak. But the ATP – despite having the correct score – reports only 46 service games, showing that they have dropped the 16 games of the final set.

Here are more matches for which the ATP has counted aces and double-faults twice.

- For Sampras-Becker, 1992 ATP Championships, round-robin, Nadal_Power and Slice Serve Ace both have Sampras serving 70 points and Becker 75. The ATP would have those same numbers if it subtracted aces and double-faults once.

- For Becker-Ivanisevic, 1992 ATP Championships semifinal, Slice Serve Ace has Ivanisevic serving 101 points, exactly what the ATP would have if aces and double-faults were subtracted once.

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hadn't notice that at all. so this doublecounting is not reduced to grand slam matches only. although, both these matches are from frankfurt 1992, maybe it's the only non-gs tournament with wrong stats. i've been trying to calculate 2nd serve pts won for the 90s by substracting dfs from gs matches. this doesn't cover all faults from atp stats, but it'll get us lists which are much closer to reality.

hadn't notice that at all. so this doublecounting is not reduced to grand slam matches only. although, both these matches are from frankfurt 1992, maybe it's the only non-gs tournament with wrong stats. i've been trying to calculate 2nd serve pts won for the 90s by substracting dfs from gs matches. this doesn't cover all faults from atp stats, but it'll get us lists which are much closer to reality.

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Actually it had not occurred to me that the double counting might be restricted to GS matches, but you're right that so far the only non-GS event where we know there was double-counting is the 1992 ATP Championships.

Subtracting double-faults from GS matches should definitely give us a more realistic picture (even if not necessarily an exact picture) and I'd be interested to see what you come up with for Sampras and other big players of the 90s.

I think that the GS events in 1991, as well as the USO in 1999, did not have double-counting.